Celebrity Cruises' Andrej Malic Sets Sail for One of the World's Best Bartender Competitions

With the Rio Olympics drawing to a close, there's another competition ongoing that you might want to follow—the battle to become one of the world's best bartenders. Last week, Andrej Malic of Celebrity Cruises beat out competition from thousands of cruise line bartenders from three of the world's leading cruise lines to be crowned one of the best bartenders at sea.

All the cruise line bartenders who took part in the competition were put through a series of heats in what was the biggest year yet for WORLD CLASS, before the three finalists mixed it up and were judged by a panel of the industry's elite experts in the deluxe Diageo 396 Bar in Miami.

Andrej prevailed throughout the competition with his outstanding showmanship and innovative cocktail creation and technique, particularly with his signature serve 'Old Spice Fashion' featuring BULLEIT Bourbon, which you can make at home by following the recipe below.

Andrej's signature 'Old Spice Fashion'

Ingredients:
1.5 oz BULLEIT® BOURBON
0.25 oz Allspice Dram Liqueur
0.75 oz Honey syrup
2 drops of Tiki bitters
1 bar spoon of crème de Yvette
A dash of Peychaud's bitter

Recipe: Add all ingredients in a mixing glass, stir to dilution and strain into double old fashioned glass over one large ice cube. Garnish with expressed grapefruit zest.

Andrej, 27, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, will proceed to represent cruise line bartenders at one of the leading and most respected contests of its kind in the world—WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year Competition in Miami on Sept 25-29, 2016. He will compete there against 59 of the world's best bartenders for the coveted 'World Class Bartender of the Year' title.

A leading bartender on board Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Millennium, Andrej said, "This is without doubt the best moment of my career to date. I'm hugely delighted and grateful to be recognized by the WORLD CLASS competition and to have won. I've been inspired and challenged by many talented bartenders over the last few weeks and I'm really looking forward to using the skills and knowledge that I've developed to represent Celebrity Cruises and all cruise line bartenders at the grand final of the WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year Competition."

There's no word on whether the cocktail's aroma is similar to that of the famous men's Old Spice after-shave. We'll just have to make it at home to find out.

Image Courtesy Diageo